


I’ll Be Your Dauntless Heroine

by limpinglumpy



Series: July 2020 Prompts_Adjectives [4]
Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Gen, Other, Superhero!AU, basiphobic victim!Gahyeon, scopophobic heroine!Handong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:49:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25080412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/limpinglumpy/pseuds/limpinglumpy
Summary: Despite being a dauntless heroine, Handong has a morbid fear of being stared at/watched, so she always does her best to work unnoticed. This, however, is easier said than done; does she really qualify as a “dauntless heroine” if she has such precautions, she often wonders…Gahyeon, who has a fear of falling, does not care much for the title so long as she can be saved properly.
Relationships: Han Dong | Handong & Lee Gahyeon
Series: July 2020 Prompts_Adjectives [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811602
Kudos: 13





	I’ll Be Your Dauntless Heroine

**Author's Note:**

> dauntless — (adj.) incapable of being intimidated or subdued [fearless, undaunted]  
> \- dauntless heroes who are inclined to rush to danger, not away from it
> 
> Music: Dreamcatcher – Déjà Vu, Caverns - Times is Hard, Ellevator – New Survival, Glass Animals - Holiest

**I** t’s a difficult life, being a heroine. What makes it ever more difficult, Handong reckons, is that there always seem to be eyes watching.

The countless audience members, the voices melding into one thunderous boom, the endless streams of white, rolling up eyes turned her way, only watching **her** — it’s enough for Handong to feel as if she’s going crazy with fear. This fear of being watched follows her during every mission, and oftentimes, she feels as if her efforts may all be pointless. The life of a heroine who dreads an audience is truly quite something of an anomaly.

She gets through it, somehow. She’s strong.

But the nightmares creeping up on her every night don’t make matters any better.

Handong wanders down the street, head down and hood drawn up to avoid eye contact, avoid seeing if someone has been following her or looking her way or waving to get her attention. The coast, by the sound of it, seems clear of trouble. There haven’t been any screams or groans or blares of sirens. Only birds twittering in the branches above her, the rustling of cats walking through springtime flowers, and other harmless sounds are audible. _I guess today’s quite the lucky day… I can keep a low profile and stay undetected for now._ The thought alone clears Handong’s mind enough for her to take a refreshed breath and release it above her head.

And that’s when everything takes a turn for the worst.

Above her, clutching onto the thick branch of a maple taller than eight grown women is a girl.

“AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Handong screams in shock. Her whole body’s overcome with sparks and she can’t move a step from the place she’s standing.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” The girl in the tree screams in return. Her eyes, enlarged and full of fear, seem to push the shaking Handong into the ground, and the heroine falls into a sitting position. _Surely that’ll bruise,_ she’d think if this was a normal situation. But she’s too dang frightened by the eyes watching her from above as if begging for help.

It takes Handong a good amount of time to get herself calmed down enough to stop visibly shaking. _You’re a dauntless heroine, you’re dauntless, you’re not scared of anything at all!!_ She breathes in and out, slowly, slowly, a couple of times like she does every time she feels a panic attack coming on, and then she opens her eyes to peer above her once more. The girl from before’s still there, eyes brimming with tears. Handong winces, but the first wave of fright is already over, so she trains her eyes on the ground and quietly asks, “Are you… in need of assistance?”

The girl in the tree sounds like she’s trying not to bawl her eyes out. “M—Miss, I— Yes, p-please, ac-actually…”

The frightened tone shakes Handong’s heart, and the so-called dauntless heroine beats back her worries enough to look at the staring girl’s arms, which grip the tree branch tightly enough to turn white. _She must be so scared…_

“Th-then give me just a moment,” Handong assures. She reaches into the side pocket of her backpack and takes out her umbrella. As soon as the device rests in her palm, it expands, revealing an alignment of jets attached to the spokes, along with a variety of miniature weapons engraved into the hilt.“Won’t be needing those, now,” she mutters, then looks about her in search of any onlookers. As soon as she assures that the coast is clear ( _Oh, thank God…_ ), she clicks on the button at the very bottom of the umbrella, sending herself blasting through the air until she hovers beside the branch on which the girl is trapped. Handong’s eyes stay trained towards the ground, but she can still feel the girl’s unwavering gaze on her, big eyes turning larger until they bore holes the size of baseballs in Handong’s fragile self-control. Despite wishing to run away and leave the girl with big eyes hanging, Handong takes a few more breaths. “I’m here, so… So feel free to hold on to me while I escort you down.”

Unexpectedly, there’s a sob in response. Handong’s curiosity wins over her fear and her eyes train on the trembling girl’s face. The girl’s eyes are screwed shut for once, cheeks red with embarrassment. “I—I can’t,” the girl whispers, finally. “I’m… Scared I’ll fall…”

Handong feels it’s a legitimate reason to be scared of holding on to her, and she sooths her nerves with a few more refreshing breaths. _It’ll be okay. I’ll be just fine._ She guides herself onto the branch and sits beside the girl wbo’s stretched across it with her whole body tensed. Handong decides to take things slow so that she can convince herself somehow that this girl is not **watching** but is instead **looking**. _She’s just looking. She’s just scared. That’s normal, I’m scared, too. Yeah._ “Ah… What’s your name, dear?”

The girl slowly opens her eyes. A trickle of sweat slides down from her temple. “Gahyeon.”

_She’s just looking._ “Well, then, Gahyeon-ssi.” Handong says in her most reassuring tone. “How did you get up here, if I may ask?”

The girl, Gahyeon, blows some hair away from her face. The strand lands onto her school uniform before slightly swaying in the breeze passing by them and landing in its original position over her brow. Gahyeon looks like she’ll have a heart attack, soon, but manages to squeeze through her trembling lips, “I took a nap after school and woke up on this branch. My classmates must have played a prank on me… One of them can fly and likes pulling tricks, but she doesn’t know that I’m — I’m scared of falling. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it…”

_Still, that’s too much, especially if you’re scared of something like falling…_ “Well, you should give her a stern talking-to. I’ll get you down so you can do that.” Handong thinks it over for a second before gently looping her finger around the stray strand of hair and tucking it behind Gahyeon’s ear. “Close your eyes for me, would you, Gahyeon-ssi?” _Maybe it’ll help both of us calm down…_

“Mmn…” Gahyeon flutters her eyes shut after a few moments of silence pass between them. She allows her grip on the branch to loosen but continues holding on to it as if the pacific breeze will push her off if she isn’t paying attention to her survival even for a second. “I’m in your care…” She pauses as if asking for Handong’s name.

“I’m Handong.”

“Ah. Then, I’m in your care, Handong-ssi.” This is murmured so quietly that Handong is left to wonder how close Gahyeon is to fainting. “Just… p-please don’t drop me…”

Handong’s lips curve up into a gentle smile. She pokes at one of her buns beneath her hood until she releases the ribbon wrapped carefully around it, and she’s soon wrapping it around Gahyeon’s wrist. “Don’t worry, Gahyeon-ssi. You’re safe in my hands.”

Once the ribbon is firmly (though not too tightly) attached to Gahyeon’s wrist, Handong drops it and allows it to unfurl until it softly plops onto the walk below. She then gently tugs on the ribbon, allowing it to come undone. The next second, Gahyeon is already lying on the grass without having fallen. Handong then uses her umbrella to levitate to the ground and settle beside Gahyeon. The girl is looking up at her as if she’s in shock.

“You’re safe, now, so there’s no reason to worry, anymore,” Handong speaks fondly.

Gahyeon still looks stumped, and when she sits up into criss-cross position, her eyes lit up as if they’re fireworks. “Ah, you’re just holy!!!!!! Thank you, Handong-ssi.”

Seeing the look of gratefulness swimming in Gahyeon’s eyes fills Handong with an overflowing sense of pride. The people she saves usually end up running away after experiencing so much trauma, so she’s not used to this kind of treatment. _If this is how it is from now on, maybe I won’t mind one or two people watching…_

She then remembers about Gahyeon’s fear and trains her gaze on the girl in a nervous yet assertive way. “I’m glad I could offer you protection, today. But you have to make sure to let your friends know what not to do as a joke or this might happen again.”

Gahyeon nods, her eyes still sparkling. “I will, Handongie-ssi!”

“Good.” Gahyeon’s large eyes aren’t intimidating at all, now that the two of them at the same level, and Handong allows herself to chuckle. She may be daunted still by the idea of foreign eyes on her, but ones like Gahyeon’s are maybe pretty okay.


End file.
